Sunday, February 27, 2005

Decided to go east this morning because I haven't gone that way before. The ice is still over the pedestrian underpasses, so you have to cross busy streets, but early on Sundays, it's pretty quiet, traffic-wise.

Actually, I wasn't even going to go this morning. Had another night of sleeplessness, and finally dozed off just after my alarm went off, but after an hour and a half or sleep and breakfast, I felt good enough to get out. And I'm glad I did. Not a cloud in the sky and the sunrise is absolutely glorious!

So, down Edmonton Trail, then east along Memorial Drive to the Zoo, where the path is closed because of high river levels. So, up on the overpass and toward the Zoo parking area on the north side of Memorial, which was my turn around point.

On the way back, I thought I would go north up that hill by St. George's Street (avenue?) that has some guy's name (gotta get a map someday). The path lead me to 13th Street, then Child Street (Avenue? Cresent?), which eventually got to a rather complicated intersection at 8th Avenue, which took me home.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Actually just over a half marathon. I went the same route as last week, cuz it was pretty cool. Loved the evergreen forest below that neighbourhood that I can't think of the the name of - Spruce Cliff, if I'm looking at mls.ca right. There's a lot more clear pavement out this week too, and less ice.

On the way back, for fun, I thought I'd head straight north on 10th Street, then at 13th Avenue, I doubled back onto Cresent Drive. Followed that around, back to 8th Avenue, and home. That is one lo-o-o-o-ng hill on 10th, as you come up along side of SAIT.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Can't stay away from Cresent Drive. It's got such a beautiful view of the downtown, and the mountains against the sunset. Lots of other runners can't stay away either, cuz we're all over the place along there.

It was a long, hard day, after a long hard day that was supposed to be a statutory holiday (Alberta's Family Day). Work just sucked today, way too much running back and forth and dealing with annoyed people (who had reason to be annoyed, by the way). Bleah.

I was late getting home, but just changed and went, and just pushed the stride as far as it felt comfortable pushing, so I had good times on all intervals.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Wow, can't believe I got that far. I started out going down 8th Avenue, then south down Centre Street to the downtown side of the river. I was planning to go as far as Crowchild Trail and cross back across the river there, but for some reason I ran past that bridge, just to see how far I could go on the south side.

Not much of a trail after awhile, just a couple of well traveled ruts, where I imagine city vehicles have been frequenting. After awhile, the path crossed the railroad tracks and I ran along the bottom of the cliff, below a neighbourhood I can't remember the name of right now. It was a bit startling to see the sign admonishing all travelers not to stop, as avalanches were possible in the area. This after a sign admonishing all travelers to keep dogs on the leash, as coyotes frequented the area.

I was almost going to turn around at the 60 minute mark, but I could see a bridge just up the river a little bit. So I figured I could just continue on to it, and cross, then head back toward home on the other side of the river. I had no idea I was at the bridge in Edworthy Park.

So all the way back to the bottom of the stairs to Cresent Drive, which I managed to climb. That was hard, as by that time, I'd already covered about 17 km. Then 8th Avenue and home.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Nice run tonight. I found my easy loping pace and actually had some pretty good times, and it was a beautiful evening for running, or even just being outside, what with the spectacular sunset with the silhouette mountain horizon, and the warm temperature.

Tonight I went down Edmonton Trail to the river path along Memorial Drive, across the river under the C-Train bridge near the 10th Street bridge, then back along the promenade to the Centre Street bridge, and up that to 8th Avenue and home. Lots of people out running, too, especially on the promenade side of the river.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

I was going to head east on the path by Memorial Drive, but with the river so high right now, all the paths under the streets are close, since most are under water and ice. So I just headed across the bridge to down town, and along the river on that side.

The Hypothermic Half Marathon is on this morning, I think. There are orange traffic cones all over the place on the downtown side of the river, and a small sign at one point marking the first kilometre. I would have been there about an hour before it started.

Once I got to 7th Street, I headed south on it, then turned back east on 3rd Avenue. The bakeries in Chinatown are going full blast, so in addition to huffing and puffing, I was drooling as well. Lord, it smelled good!

Then the long climb up Centre Street to 8th Avenue, and homeward.

Today's run:Well, it was a total wash as far as the GPS is concerned. Apparently it wasn't able to get a satellite lock. But the stats are impressive: Distance: 1010 km, at an average speed of 1552 kph. How kicky is that? In reality I probably covered about 5 km, which is what I'll log.

Weather: Cloudy and -1C. Not too much of a breeze, and the sun was threatening to break through.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Beautiful morning, and a lot of runners were out taking advantage of it. My alarm somehow got shut off, so I started out later than I had planned, but it was great. A great pace, not quite the groove pace that lasts all day, but close. And at the end I felt great.

Straight down Edmonton Trail to Memorial, then the river path west. My turn around point was 32nd Street NW. I was impressed with myself.

Came back via Cresent Drive again, because for some reason I can't stay away from that climb. I didn't take the stairs this time, just the path, but it's still pretty steep. Slowed me down some - my average speed in that interval was 8.2 kph. But then my first interval, where I ran down the long hill on Edmonton Trail, I was doing 10.4 kph. Lose it here, make it up there. It all evens out.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Finally got my Internet connection up and running. I was beginning to feel a bit disconnected from the world.

Tonight was a good hard run, a repeat of the Cresent Drive run I did Sunday morning. It was such a good feeling day for some reason. An exuberant day. Dunno why.

But I got out on 8th Avenue and just headed west, across Edmonton Trail and Centre Street, until I got to Cresent park, then around the south end of it along the escarpment. It was a pretty night, with downtown's lights sparkling in the twilight, and the mountains sillouetted against the sunset.

Another neat part of that route is you get to look down on Sunnyside, which is a neat little neighbourhood between the bottom of the escarpment and the river. Not as neat as it was on Sunday in the snow, because the snow is now a muddy sort of slush.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Tried a quick run, without going down the hill. Just went straight west, to 1st Avenue NW, then a short zig south to Cresent Drive. Followed that all the way around the neighbourhood to about 14th Avenue, as it paralleled 10th Street across from SAIT. Then I just retraced my steps back home.

Cresent Drive is a great place for rubbernecking, what with the spectacular view of downtown to the south, and the million dollar homes that overlook it. Even one with a Christmas tree still up and lit in the front room.

Weather: Probably about the same as it was yesterday, about -18c to -20c. Overcast and light snow. Gave that spectacular view of downtown a rather mystical look.

Wildlife: There are a lot of tracks around this neighbourhood that look like rabbit tracks. Which would explain the presence of coyotes (if that's what they were) Who knew the inner city was so close to nature?

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Finally got out and did some distance. Stayed by the river, along Memorial Drive, and almost got to Crowchild Trail. Felt really good to be out again, and it's such a beautiful morning too, even with the snow and cold.

On the way back I bypassed the stairs, instead taking the long path up the escarpment. Still a bloody good workout. According to the GPS, the altitude change over that interval was from a low of 1053 m to a high of 1093 m. Not quite as drastic as what some people I know have done, but pretty good for me, for running in a prairie city.

Weather: At a guess, it was about -18C by the time I got out. Cloudy, but a nice day, really.

Wildlife: On the bluff below the condos perched on the top of the escarpment between Centre Street and Edmonton Trail, there seem to be coyotes. The siren of an emergency vehicle across the river set them to yipping and howling. Very surprising that they would be as far inside the city as the downtown area.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Inner city running is a much different place than the park. I have to cross several very busy streets, and Calgary is a car town. Pedestrians get to wait at the intersections for walk lights. But I have some great hills, and the view of the downtown from across the river is spectacular.

From the top of the hill to the bottom along Edmonton Trail, and along Memorial drive. There's a foot bridge across the Bow River from Memorial Drive to Prince's Island, with a stairway from the path. The bridge goes across Memorial Drive to a curling rink.

Then you get to the bottom of the stairs. The stairs climb about 60 metres, according to the GPS, to Cresent Drive, and it's a popular climb for both runners and walkers. Great workout.

From there I turned back east along the cresent, then down a relatively gentle slope to the top of the Centre Street bridge. A long wait for a crosswalk light, then back up the other side on 2nd Street, and a little zig-zag back to Edmonton Trail, and back home.